BigPicture Base of the Pyramid Enterprise Development Sample Questions*

General Questions to be considered:

1. What are your company’s goals for the base of the pyramid
market?
2. How do we identify and define base of the pyramid customers and their
needs?
3. What products or services might we offer? How might we think of our
products differently, what can we learn from others?
4. How do we think of this opportunity creatively and systemically?

Specific questions to be considered:

Goals and Assumptions

1. What do we want by entering this market? What is the ideal state
or design for our interaction with this market? What potential does your
company need to see to justify entry into this market?
2. How do we measure success? What metrics make sense at the base of the
pyramid and for our company? What measurable goals do we have for years
two and three?

Risk/Reward

3. What is our risk? What will a base of the pyramid endeavor cost
our company? (What will it cost if we do not enter this market?)

Markets/Products/Services/Business Models

4. Who is the market? Can it be defined solely by geography?
5. How do we figure out which of our products will match with a vital
need at the base of the pyramid? What products do we have that are affordable
by these markets? What potential products (or patents) could our company
produce (or use) that would meet their need(s)?
6. What are the business models for tapping into this market? Which
is best for us?

Product Systems

7. Should we be selling products or “complete solutions?”
(As CEMEX sells housing and additions rather than just cement.)
8. How do we think about our product in a way that brings insight to
how we might be able to produce it inexpensively? An order of magnitude
less expensively?
9. How could our product(s) be produced by small-medium size businesses
in emerging markets? (How about in ways that increase employment, income,
and purchasing power—that can be used to purchase our product.)
10. How could the purchase of our products be financed? How can we develop
a product that will help people buy our product?

Next Steps

11. How do we move forward? Where do we locate our base of the pyramid
operation? Do we protect it with a firewall? Who are the best people
to staff it?
12. How do we find the right locals partner(s)? What criteria do we
use to measure who is best for us?

* For a complete list of base of the pyramid
enterprise development questions click here
and let us know what company or organization you are with.